Tag Archives: New York City

How long is the Christmas Season?????

Posted on by

Today we are one week away from Thanksgiving!  My family will be celebrating on Saturday as is our custom with lots of family and friends, made even better by the addition of 2 new husbands, 1 step son and 1 little baby girl!  It’s been quite the year for our family!

There was a time that the Christmas season started AFTER Thanksgiving now the commercials start in October, the Hallmark Channels started running nothing but Christmas movies the weekend BEFORE Halloween, and stores have been advertising “black Friday” deals all month!

Now, I’m not saying you shouldn’t Christmas shop all through-out the year, but let’s be real…time is passing too fast as it is, let’s take one holiday at a time and focus on enjoying each as it comes and stop rushing through the years…enjoy each season as it comes.  Let’s enjoy Thanksgiving for now!  Me?  I’m looking forward to celebrating THANKSGIVING!

fb28291bfe05e628635480517347a34d

Vicki Reed

 

Co-Op? Not what you think!

Posted on by

When you google Co-Op’s in Indianapolis, the results go to farm or food cooperatives…but did you know that we also have Co-Op homes in Indy?  I have personally assisted my dear friend Kate in her purchase of her new home…a Co-Op in Irvington!  I learned a lot during this process and thought I would share some it.

When I think of Co-Op’s, I think of those fabulous Park Avenue places in New York City…you know the ones, millions of dollars, thousands of square feet, very exclusive with a fabulous view.  In Irvington, there are 2 neighborhoods – Maplewood Court and Irvington Court.  A housing cooperative is a legal entity consisting of one or more residential buildings, a distinctive form of home ownership that has many characteristics that make it different than other residential arrangements such as single family ownership, condominiums and renting.

The corporation is membership based, with membership granted by way of a share purchase in the cooperative. Each shareholder in the legal entity is granted the right to occupy one housing unit. A primary advantage of the housing cooperative is the pooling of the members’ resources so that their buying power is leveraged, thus lowering the cost per member in all the services and products associated with home ownership.  Members, through their elected representatives, screen and select who may live in the cooperative.

Kate purchased her new home in Maplewood Court, these were built in 1917 and to the credit of the Board, somewhere along the way they added garages to the property along with a caretaker apartment and caretaker.  These units boast an unfinished basement with Laundry hook-up, main floor has a living room, dining room and kitchen – some have taken down the wall between the kitchen and dining which really opens the space – 2 bedrooms and a bath on the 2nd floor and most have finished the attic that really adds to the usable space!  They all have front porches and lots of period detail.  Kate’s unit even has the original doorbell on the beautiful wood and leaded glass front door!

Closing was the simplest transaction I’ve been involved in during my career…money transferred, a few documents signed and well, what took the longest was the issuing of the Stock Certificate – one of the board members actually used calligraphy and issued it from the original book of blank stock certificates!

Great process, lots of lessons learned, Kate has a fantastic new home and all is well.  Living in Irvington was Kate’s dream….what can I do to turn your dreams into an address?

DAKOTA2-articleLarge

Vicki Reed

Mamma Mia!

Posted on by

If you were growing up in the late 1970s or early 1980s, you probably know about ABBA, for you youngsters, you’ve probably at least heard of the musical or movie “Mamma Mia!,” built on ABBA’s music, you can probably even sing along to the group’s greatest hits. But you might not know just how big a deal ABBA was and continues to be or why the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra would dedicate it’s entire performance its music.

ABBA was Sweden’s first major cultural export and has sold more than 370 million singles and albums since its inception in 1972, making Sweden the No. 3 exporter of music in the world after the U.S. and U.K. The group continues to enjoy pop culture relevance through “Mamma Mia!” and other films, and this weekend, the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra will perform the music of ABBA with the six-voice Finnish a capella group, Rajaton.

What other exports can we thank Sweden for?  Remember, Sweden is a country smaller than New York City’s five boroughs!

How about the Nobel Prize?  In 1759, Sweden’s brightest minds founded The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. In his last will and testament, Alfred Nobel (the inventor of dynamite, among other things) tasked the academy with the creation of the Nobel Prize in physics and chemistry, first awarded in 1901. The prize has been expanded to include physiology and medicine, literature, peace and economic sciences and has become synonymous with brilliant people doing visionary work.

Technology?  They are home to telecom giant Ericsson as well as Skype!  Sports?  Bjorn Borg didn’t just win five consecutive Wimbledon singles titles, he was the iconic image of men’s tennis in the 1970s. Fashion?  H&M is the world’s second-largest clothing retailer!  What about IKEA?   It is a multibillion-dollar international flat-packed, read-to-assemble home furnishing and accessory empire.

And talk about some great exports…how about Greta Garbo, Max von Sydow, Ingmar Bergman. Author Astrid Lindgren who created the beloved Pippi Longstocking, and most recently, Stieg Larsson’s  “Millennium Trilogy” (”The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,” “The Girl Who Played With Fire” and “The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest”) has sold more than 65 million copies globally and a movie starring Daniel Craig!

Now that you are up to date on all things Swedish…join the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra for the music of ABBA March 15 and 16 at the Hilbert Circle Theatre in Indianapolis and March 17 at The Palladium in Carmel.

mammamia-022612-orig

Vicki Reed

Want to move to Irvington?

Posted on by

I have a client very interested in moving to Irvington – this area is ever evolving and very walkable which is on a lot of people’s wish lists these days!  Housing is reasonably priced, including some really good deals on 1700 square feet townhomes in a Coop neighborhood – I know, you say a “coop” my thoughts automatically goes to New York and those expensive apartments on Central Park!  If you google “co-ops in Indiana“, you get grain and bean coop or food coop.  This will be a learning experience that I will happy share with you as we move through the process…but now back to Irvington.

Irvington was originally a suburban town in 1870 but was annexed into the City of Indianapolis in the early 1900’s.  The original plat of Irvington includes a winding picturesque street plan, very different from Indianapolis’ grid layout.  Irvington today has more lineal blocks of brick streets than any neighborhood in the city, and its naturalistic plan is considered Indianapolis’ largest and most developed example of Victorian Romantic landscape design.

In 1873, the area was selected as the new location for Northwestern Christian University, later renamed Butler University.  From 1875-1928, Butler developed a campus in Irvington, which subsequently promoted a college town atmosphere throughout the community. Although most of the campus buildings are gone, except the Bona Thompson Memorial Library, the intellectual spirit is still reflected in Irvington’s many association and groups.

Want to move to Irvington?  Click here to check out available homes everything from $8,000 to $260,000, sign up on my website and let’s get started!

4-1342969178-5084315190_265c9de9d2_z

Vicki Reed

Do you know about Meetup.com?

Posted on by

As a Realtor, I’m always looking for networking opportunities and struggle because a lot of them cost significant dollars to join and only allow one of each profession among their ranks.  Several years ago…before my move to the Real Estate biz…I found Meetup.com because I was bored with my life and looking for things to do that would shake things up a bit!

Meetup.com has groups for anything you can imagine and if you can’t find something that interests you, you are encouraged start a Meetup of your own.  Founded in NYC following 9/11 (click here to read a message from the Founder), Meetup was created to use the internet to get off the internet and actually meet and interact with others who have similar interests but that you might never have met.  There are groups for Moms, Singles over 40, Live Theater Lovers, Movie Buffs, Bikers, Hikers, Christian Women in Business, and even groups who like Beer!  I encourage you to see what is there that might interest you!

I have used it for several things over different times in my life over the last few years, now I use it to find networking opportunities and master mind groups for small business.  At Keller Williams Indy Metro NE, I created a group of Independent Agents, MAX T Agents (Maximizing Independent Agents Extreme Talents), we support each other, back each other up, share business ideas and best practices and more and more lately we’ve been talking about networking opportunities and where to find them.  I always suggest Meetup.com and am surprised how few people know about it!  Business networking is defined as “a socioeconomic activity by which groups of like-minded business people recognize, create, or act upon business opportunities.”  These are generally small groups who meet for a specific purpose, some weekly, some monthly, but always worthwhile.

So for all of you out there complaining that you do don’t have anyone to do anything with…check out the groups on Meetup.com…WordPress (the host of this blog) even has one in Indy!  I’m thinking of starting one for First Time Home Buyers…what do you think?

networking2

Vicki Reed